Looks like the pre-FOMC jitters are settling in, as forex traders were biting their nails instead of pushing currency pairs around in today’s Asian session. USD/JPY is moving in tight consolidation around 121.35 (0.00%), GBP/USD is up 8 pips (0.05%) and EUR/USD is down by 12 pips (-0.12%) so far.

Data was light in the past few hours, with only a couple of low-key reports from Australia and Japan. Australia’s MI leading index showed an improvement from 0.1% to 0.3% in February, hinting at a potential pickup in economic conditions. Meanwhile, Japan showed a wider trade deficit of 0.64 trillion JPY compared to the previous 0.41 trillion JPY shortfall.

AUD/USD is drifting lower to test support at the .7600 handle (-0.10%) while NZD/USD is down 11 pips (-0.15%) as risk aversion seems to be peeking back in the financial market. Forex traders could be pricing in expectations for a hawkish Fed statement early on and that’s something y’all should be watching out for in the upcoming trading session.

Apart from that, the BOE minutes and the U.K. jobs release might also shake things up for pound pairs. Judging from the pound’s recent price action, it looks like market watchers are doubting that MPC members could stick to their optimistic tone given how U.K. data has been disappointing recently. Then again, the labor sector could surprise with another better-than-expected employment report, as the claimant count is slated to drop by 30.6K while the jobless rate could improve from 5.7% to 5.6% in February.